Vancouver Island hockey player scores his first 3 NHL goals all in one night

Well, that’s one way to start your NHL career off with a bang.

Scoring your first-ever NHL goal is always a momentous occasion, but for one Vancouver Island-born player, he wasn’t stopping there, tallying a hat-trick on Wednesday night for the Vegas Golden Knights.

Nanaimo’s Dylan Coghlan scored all three goals for the Golden Knights last night, though the game ended in a 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild.

The defenceman’s first-ever NHL goal came within just two minutes of the first period, with the second goal 14 minutes into the third – the third and final goal came a few minutes later.

“I haven’t had a hat trick since I was 10 probably, maybe even younger,” said Coghlan in his post-game interview.

Coghlan is only 12 games into this season with the Golden Knights, who currently lead the NHL’s West Division with a 16-6-1 record.

He kicked off his career with the Nanaimo Minor Hockey Association, then moved on to play one season of B.C. Major Midget League hockey with Nanaimo’s North Island Silvertips.

He continued on to the major junior level and beyond.

Aside from surely breaking some personal records, Coghlan marks only the third defenceman in NHL history to score his first three career goals in the same game.

Also impressive, he became the 11th player in the last 30 years to score his first three goals in the same game.